A few weeks ago I send Fritz from the Fritz40k/Way of Saim Hann blog an email with the request if he’d have a look at the Necron Phalanx army list Daniel constructed. Here’s part of the email I send:

Hey Fritz,

I’ve been a fervent reader of your Way of Saim Hann/Fritz 40k blog for a while now and a friend of mine has decided to start his own Necrons army. He is a beginner and has never played 40k before. Necrons are probably not the easiest army to start with and we’ve told him that. However, he’s determined to go with Necrons.
Therefore, we are planning a small 500 pts combat patrol campaign soon to get him to know the game and I would really appreciate your insights as a veteran Necron player on his proposed army list:

14 Necron Warriors (252 pts)

3 Scarab swarms with disruption fields (48 pts)

3 Scarab swarms with disruption fields (48 pts)

3 Destroyers (150 pts)

Total: 498 pts

You can find more details and a battle plan for Daniel’s army list in one of our previous posts: Necron Phalanx

Reply from Fritz

Fritz was kind enough to send me a very interesting reply:

Well, Necrons are hard to play at any level at this point, but this is still a great time to get started with them since their codex is on the way. What really helps Necrons is the wargear on the lord, but we can’t get that in a combat patrol game…

So the list, warriors, scarabs, and destroyers, all good stuff and a solid base. Deployment is going to be key with the units since they don’t have any mech to move them- and there will be some even in combat patrols with chimeras, rhinos, and truks being so cheap.

Warriors on one side with the scarabs in front so the warriors get cover saves. Destroyers on the other. Normally when you have an elite force you want to castle up, but you want the destroyers on one side so that frees up some pressure on the warriors. If your opponent wants to close with the destroyers he is moving away from the warriors with those units, etc. Destroyers need to stay at the 36” range as much as possible so they can only be hit back with long range stuff, which you then hopefully have a cover save with and then the WBB.

Disruption fields on the scarabs are ok, and what else would you spend the points on, but I wouldn’t want to use them to glance stop vehicles in the assault. You don’t have the volume of attacks to do this, then the guys inside get out, shoot, and assault the scarabs wiping them out and giving away a kill point or victory points depending on what you are playing.
What I would do with them is use them as a distraction for your warriors to get into place- turbo boost the scarabs around to get that 2+ cover save and get your opponent to shoot at them over your warriors- most dudes will shoot the closest unit or units that look like they are in play or threatening. They key here is to place them in range where they can be shot, but not assaulted.

I’ll be following you guys and the battle reports.

Necrons FTW!

-Fritz

Thanks for the insightful reply! I think we’ll have to watch out for Daniel’s Necrons from now on!

If you would like to learn more about Necron army lists and tactics, you should definately have a look at the Fritz40k blog. It even has a whole PDF on how to win with Necrons.

Feedback?

What do you think of his ideas for Necrons? Please leave a comment below or send me an email through the contact page.

The painting scheme I’ve opted for my Tau Hunting Cadre is based on the Tau world of Fi’rios – a desert world occupied by the Tau during the Third Phase Expansion. The main colours I used to reflect this desert scheme are Bleached Bone and Bubonic Brown.

I’ll briefly describe the steps I’ve taken to paint my Fire Warriors:

After assembling my models I sprayed them with a base coat of Chaos Black. I always use Chaos Black as my base coat, because this way I can work from dark to light, which I find the easiest way. Highlighting as I go along.

Next up, I gave my Fire Warriors a rough coat of Bestial Brown with a tank brush. This is a step that doesn’t need to be done very accurately as it’s just to give them a sort of second base coat.

Painting the whole model Bubonic Brown is my next step. Followed by a thick dry-brush of Bleached Bone to get the colour of the armour done. This gives my Fire Warriors a nice weathered look. I think that desert warfare would leave a mark on the armour of my warriors of the Greater Good. This thick dry-brush will represent that mark quite well, I think.

After this I paint the clothing of my warriors Bubonic Brown. I like the contrast of this colour with the dry-brush of Bleached Bone. The straps of the armour are then painted Bestial Brown.

On to the details of the models. The Tau Empire badge symbol is painted with Skull White, the lenses of the helmets Ultramarine Blue and the symbols on the end of the rifles with Brazen Brass.

If the model has a bare face, I first gave it a base coat of Shadow Grey, followed by a highlight of Space Wolves Grey.

I’m still thinking about how to paint sept markings and a way to distinguish squad leaders from the rest of the unit. I’ll post an update as soon as I’ve figured this part out.

Basing

[Addition] I probably should’ve mentioned this before, but before I base coat my models after assembling them, I first base my models with modeling sand. The modeling sand gets a base coat like this as well. I find it easier to paint the base this way, as I always had trouble painting the base at a later stage without screwing up the paint job near the feet of my models. The modeling sand is applied with some watered-down PVA glue.

Now that the model is finished, we still need to paint the base. I think the base is one of the most important parts of the model. If done right, it will give the look of the model a great boost. Here’s how I finished the bases:

First, a watered-down base coat of Scorched Brown was applied. This needs to dry for a while, before you can continue highlighting. I would say, let it dry for a few hours to make sure it’s ready for the next step.

Next, I hightlighted the Scorched Brown with Bleached Bone. This highlight was done with a large drybrush.

Finally, I added some green Static Grass to the base with super glue to finish the base and thus the entire model. I really like the contrast of the Scorched Brown, Bleached Bone and the fresh green of the Static Grass.

Most of the materials I used to paint my Fire Warriors can be found at Total Wargamer or at your local Games Workshop store.

Future improvements

I only just recently learned about Games Workshop’s Foundation paints. I’m trying to find a way to include these into my painting process to shorten my painting time considerably. Painting these models took a lot more time than I anticipated. Maybe there’s a way to go from a base coat of Chaos Black straight to Bleached Bone by using one of these Foundation paints. This would eliminate two whole steps of my process. What do you guys think I can do to shorten my painting process?

Feedback?

Any thoughts that might improve my painting scheme or steps? Please leave a comment below or send me an email through the contact page.

Since the 3rd WH40K edition I really enjoyed using a fast attack army, with trukk mounted orks, warbikes and some supporting units, blasting full speed into the enemy’s forces. This combat patrol campaign will again feature a fast-moving army. Power klaw wielding Nob Ugork leads his retinue of trukk boys and Grimog, also wielding a power klaw, leads his Shoota boys into battle. The army is supported by 3 Warbikes, 2 Dethkoptas and a Killa kan.

The full army list:

Ugork’s Trukk Boyz (11) armed with sluggas and choppa’s (142 pts)

Grimok’s Shoota Boyz (17) (148 pts)

Killa kan armed with rokkit (45 pts)

3 Warbikes (75 pts)

2 Dethkoptas armed with Twin-linked rokkits (90 pts)

Total: 500 pts

Battle plan

Charge!! My motorized Ork mobs will charge across the battlefield at full speed, supported by a large mob of shoota boys, blasting away from a sheltered firing place. The killa kan will protect the Shoota boyz from assaults. Ugork’s power klaw will come in handy for ripping apart armoured vehicles, just like my Dethkoptas, which can scout ahead and fire with their twin-linked rokkits.

The warbikers will speed along with the trukk for supporting fire and can also help in an assault. Their higher toughness and armour saves makes them quite resilient in combat. To make this plan work I do need to launch a coordinated attack and prevent my force from getting dispersed.

Finally, if opportunity presents itself I can declare a Waaagh! to launch the shoota boys into an assault via their movement boost.

Feedback?

Any thoughts that might improve my army list and/or my battle plan? Please leave a comment below or send me an email through the contact page.